Packaging coils

ABSTRACT

In the packaging of a multi-lapped annular coil of sheet material it is necessary to retain the inner laps in a tightened condition. There is provided herein an inflatable annulas insertable, prior to inflation, in the eye of the coil for subsequent inflation to grip the innermost lap, and rotation relative to the coil in a direction so as to tighten the inner laps. Means such as deformable lap-engaging clips or an annular self-locking eye liner are provided for retaining the inner laps in their tightened condition after the inflatable annulas has been deflated and removed from the eye of the coil.

United States Patent [1 1 Reed et al.

1 1 PACKAGING COILS [75] Inventors: Geoffrey Ronald Reed, Ham; Barry Edward Knox, New Addington,

both of England [73] Assignee: The British Iron and Steel Research Association, London, England [22] Filed: Nov. 28, 1972 [211 App]. N o.: 310,148

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data I Dec. 10, 1971 [52] US. Cl. 242/55, 242/72, 242/72 B [51] Int. Cl. B65h 75/24 Field of Search. 242/671, 72 8,55, 55.01, 242/72, 78.], 68; 53/138 R [56] I References Cited.

' UNITED STATES PATENTS 4/1901 Chase 242/78.l 7/1932 Mulligan 242/67.1-R

Great Britain 57501/71 Oct. 22, 1974 3,166,335 l/l965 Mason 242/72 8 3,253,323 5/1966 Saueressig.... 242/72 B 3,311,318 3/1967 Blonn, Sr. 242/72 Primary Examiner-John W. Huckert Assistant Examiner-Jon W. Henry Attorney, Agent, or Firm.Bacon & Thomas .[57] ABSTRACT v ln'the packaging of 'a multi-lapped annular coil of I I sheet material it is necessary to retain the inner laps in a tightened condition. There is provided herein an inflatable annulas insertable, prior to inflation, in the eye of the, coil for subsequent inflation to grip the innermost lap, and rotation relative to the coil in a direction so as to tighten the inner laps. Means such as deformable lap-engaging clips or an annular selflocking eye liner; are provided for retaining the inner laps in their tightened condition after the inflatable annulas has been deflated and removed from the eye of the coil.

6 Claims, 6 Drawing; Figures PATENTEDUET 22 1914 I 3. 843 070 sum w a PACKAGING cons Proposals'have been made to package coils of sheet steel by wrapping protective material around the outside of the coil and inside the eye of the coil and applying a protective coating to the ends of the coil.

This invention stems from the realisation that it is a problem if the inner laps of the coil are not tight against one another. Looseness of the inner laps may result in the protective coating on the ends of the coil becoming damaged as the coil is lifted by a lifting arm passed through the eye. Any such damage diminishes the ability of the protective coating to prevent corrosion.

According to the invention a method of packaging a coil of sheet material includes the steps of inserting a I radially expandable member into the eye of the coil, ex-

panding the member so as to grip at least a part of the inner lap of the coil, procuring relative rotation be tween the memberand the coil so as to tighten the inner laps of the coil, securing the inner laps in the tightened condition, and removing the expandable member from the eye of the coil. 2

The radially expandable member is preferably expanded by being inflated, and preferably when expanded' grips the inner lap through 360.

the apparatus 8 is placed within the eye 4 of the coil 6 as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a U"-shaped metal clip 22 The inner laps can be secured in the tightened condition by any suitable means.

In one arrangement the inner laps are retained in the tightened condition by inserting a deformable clip between the eye of the coil and some of said inner laps prior to tightening them and deforming that part of the clip which is located in the eye intocontact with the innermost lap of the coil after the inner laps have been tightened.

In an alternative arrangement a radially expandable locking band is inserted in the eye between the expandable member and the innermost lap prior to tightening the inner laps; the locking band being freely radially'expandable upon expansion of the expandable member andbeing locked-in its expanded condition prior to removal of the expandable member. In the accompanying drawings: FIG. 1 shows an end view of a coil of sheet steel, FIG. 2shows an enlarged view of the eye of the coil of FIG. I with apparatus for carrying out the method of the invention, FIGS. 3 and 4 show cross-sections through the coil and the apparatus of FIG. 2, and FIGS. 5 and 6 show a plan and side view of a detail of a possible form of securing device for the inner laps.

The inner laps 2 at the eye 4 of a coil 6 of metal such as steel have a tendency to unwind so-that they are not up tight against one another as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. To tighten the inner laps 2, apparatus 8 is inserted into the eye 4. The apparatus 8 includes a U sectioned metal ring 10 with the openside of the U directed outwardly in which is located a rubber tube 12 similar to those used as the inner tubes of motor car tyres. The ring l0 is covered by abrasion resistant rubber or similar elastic protective material 14 which may be spirally wrapped around the ring. The ring llfl has a diagonal cross-piece 16.

An air inlet tube 18 passes through the inner wall of the U"-sectioned ring 10, to which is connected an extension 20 having a quick release air valve 21 at its end for inflating the tube 12.

is pushed with one. limb between twolaps of the coil and the other limb extending into the eye 4. The tube 12 is then inflated so that it expands radially to grip the inner lap 2 throughout 360. By grasping the crosspiece 16 the ring it) is then rotated by hand in the direction clockwise in FIG. 2 opposite to that in which the laps have uncoiled, thus tightening the laps upon thus enabling the apparatus 8 to be withdrawn from the Y eye 4 of the coil.

FIGS. 5 and 6 show an alternative to the clip 22 for holding the inner laps 2 in their tightened condition. A-

metal band has opposite ends 26, .28 formed with saw teeth 30, 32 along each edge. The: teeth 30'along one edge of the end 26 are aligned with the teeth along the opposite edge of the end 26, whereas the teeth 32 along one edge of the end 28 are offset with respect to the teeth along the opposite edge of the end 28. The ends of the teeth are turned out of the plane of the band as shown in FIG. 6. It can be seen from FIGS. 5 and 6 that the teeth 30, 32 are shaped so that the ends 26, 28 can move apart relative to each other as shown by arrows P, but cannot move towards each other.

The band is formed into a-loop having a. circumference slightly less than that of the eye with the ends 26,

28 overlapping as shown in FIGS. Sand 6, and inserted into the eye of the coil before inserting the apparatus 8. The apparatus 8 is disposed'in .the eye so-t'hat the loop surrounds it. Upon inflation of the apparatus 8 the circumference of the loop expands, this being allowed for by appropriate inclination of the teeth 30, 32. When the apparatus 8 is deflated and removed the teeth 30, 32 hold the loop in its expanded condition thus securing the inner laps in the tightened condition.

The coil 2 can thenbe packaged in any convenient way for example in the manner shown in British Patent No. 1,275,602 in which protective wrapping material is wound around the outside of the coil and protective material is sprayed on to the ends of the coil. By tightening the laps in accordance with the invention the danger of the sprayed protective material being torn off the ends of the coil as a result of looseness of the inner laps is considerably reduced.

We claim:

I 1. In a method of packaging an annular coil of sheet material having 'av plurality of laps defining a central eye, the steps of: inserting a radially expandable member into the central eye of the coil, inserting expandable locking means between said member and the central eye of the coil, radially expanding said member so that said locking means grips at least a part of the innermost lap of the coil, procuring relative rotation between said member and said locking means together with respect to the outer laps of the coil so as to tighten the inner laps of the coil and enlarge said central eye until the locking means expands to a locked condition within the central eye of the coil to retain said inner laps inthat tightened condition, and removing said expandable member from the central eye of the coil.

2. Amethod according to claim 1 wherein said radithereby radially expanding said expandable locking means into gripping engagement with the innermost lap of the coil.

3. In a method of packaging an annular coil of sheet I material having a plurality of laps defining a central eye, the steps of: inserting a radially expandable memher into the central eye of the coil, inserting a radially expandable locking band between said member and the central eye of the coil, radially expanding said member so that said locking band grips at least a part of the innermost lap of the coil, procuring relative rotation between said member and said locking band together with respect to the outer laps of the coil so as to tighten the inner laps of the coil and enlarge said central eye until the locking band expands to a locked condition within the central eye of the coil to retain said inner laps in that tightened condition, and removing said expandable member from the central eye of the coil.

4. In a method of packaging an annular coil of sheet material having a plurality of laps defining a central eye, the steps of inserting a deformable clip between the central eye of the coil and some of said inner laps prior to tightening the inner laps, inserting a radially expandable member into the central eye of the coil, radi ally expanding said member so as to grip at least apart of the innermost lap ofsaid coil, procuring relative rotation between the member and the coil so as to tighten the inner laps of the coil, deforming that part of the clip which is located in the central eye of the coil into contact with theinnermost lap of the coil after said innermost laps have been tightened whereby said inner laps are retained in their tightened condition, and removing said expandable member from said central eye of the coil.

5. A method according to claim 4 wherein said expandable member comprises an inflatable annulus and including the step of inflating said annulus to grip the innermost lap of the coil as aforesaid. 6. A method according to claim 4 wherein said expandable member, when radially expanded, grips the.

innermost lap through 360. l =l 

1. In a method of packaging an annular coil of sheet material having a plurality of laps defining a central eye, the steps of: inserting a radially expandable member into the central eye of the coil, inserting expandable locking means between said member and the central eye of the coil, radially expanding said member so that said locking means grips at least a part of the innermost lap of the coil, procuring relative rotation between said member and said locking means together with respect to the outer laps of the coil so as to tighten the inner laps of the coil and enlarge said central eye until the locking means expands to a locked condition within the central eye of the coil to retain said inner laps in that tightened condition, and removing said expandable member from the central eye of the coil.
 2. A method according to claim 1 wherein said radially expandable member comprises an inflatable annulus, and including the step of inflating said annulus and thereby radially expanding said expandable locking means into gripping engagement with the innermost lap of the coil.
 3. In a method of packaging an annular coil of sheet material having a plurality of laps defining a central eye, the steps of: inserting a radially expandable member into the central eye of the coil, inserting a radially expandable locking band between said member and the central eye of the coil, radially expanding said member so that said locking band grips at least a part of the innermost lap of the coil, procuring relative rotation between said member and said locking band together with respect to the outer laps of the coil so as to tighten the inner laps of the coil and enlarge said central eye until the locking band expands to a locked condition within the central eye of the coil to retain said inner laps in that tightened condition, and removing said expandable member from the central eye of the coil.
 4. In a method of packaging an annular coil of sheet material having a plurality of laps defining a central eye, the steps of inserting a deformable clip between the central eye of the coil and some of said inner laps prior to tightening the inner laps, inserting a radially expandable member into the central eye of the coil, radially expanding said member so as to grip at least a part of the innermost lap of said coil, procuring relative rotation between the member and the coil so as to tighten the inner laps of the coil, deforming that part of the clip which is located in the central eye of the coil into contact with the innermost lap of the coil after said innermost laps have been tightened whereby said inner laps are retained in their tightened condition, and removing said expandable member from said central eye of the coil.
 5. A method according to claim 4 wherein said expandable member comprises an inflatable annulus and including the step of inflating said annulus to grip the innermost lap of the coil as aforesaid.
 6. A method according to claim 4 wherein said expandable member, when radially expanded, grips the innermost lap through 360*. 